But for now Lerdohsay, 25, who came to Rockford in September, and two friends will spend time at the Lao Rock Church, where they will bring a gift to be shared by everyone at the gathering.

Eventually, Lerdohsay said, “I want some of my family to be here with me.”

When he’s accomplished that, he will happily adopt American Christmas rituals.

Lerdohsay and his roommates, Franky Myai, 28, and Eh Hser, 23, left parents and siblings back home in Burma, now called Myanmar, or in refugee camps in Thailand.

The three men figure that having a happy Christmas means having a job, which they do. They work at Groom Industries.

They are but three of more than 140 refugees brought to the Rock River Valley this year through such agencies as Catholic Charities who are adjusting to the cultural and sacred aspects of Christmas in America.

Lerdohsay spent 10 years in a Thai refugee camp before coming to Rockford.

“We’re free,” Lerdohsay said, spreading his arms and smiling wide as the three sat at a small table eating dinner after work. “We have a chance to make some money.

“We save and send home to our families,” he added. “A hundred dollars there is a lot.”

A few blocks from the men’s apartment in the city’s southeast side is the home of Charles Gahungu, who came here with his wife and nine children in June. Their native land is the tiny nation of Burundi in Africa, which has been torn apart by civil war for more than a dozen years. Before getting permission to come to the United States, the family lived in the Congo, Rwanda and Tanzania.

Most of the family members speak their native African language. Gahungu also speaks French, and talked to the Register Star with the help of translator Heidi Spielman, who is a French teacher at Rock Valley College and Keith School.

“After waiting a long time, we were very, very happy to come here,” said Gahungu,” not only me but my children as well. I was worried about what we would do here but we wanted to come. We have always heard that this country is the best and richest in the world.”

Gahungu is pleased that his two oldest children, ages 20 and 18, recently got jobs at Wal-Mart. But the 59-year-old, who worked in a medical lab in Africa, is impatient to start earning a paycheck in this country.

“We are very, very happy here but I’m frustrated to not find a job,” he said as his three youngest boys, 5-year-old twins and a 3-year-old, played nearby. “I have friends from Africa who went to New Mexico and California and they are working.”

The Gahungus, like the three Burmese men, are doing all they can to become self-sufficient here. But it takes time.

When they first arrive, there are legal requirements — getting immunized, filing for Social Security and getting children in school, said Amy Massoth, director of Rock Valley College’s refugee and immigrant program. Then there are new living skills — riding a bus, finding the nearest grocery, adjusting the thermostat, getting ice off the front step. And, for all of them, learning or perfecting English.

“Just one or two of the new immigrants have cars,” said Massoth. “They haven’t eaten fast food yet. They don’t have enough money to go shopping, and it would be just a tease to take them to a mall.”

The three Burmese men count themselves lucky to have bedrooms of their own. They enjoy being able to pick out their own food, rather than surviving on whatever was dished out in a refugee camp.

“I feel like I’m rich now,” said Lerdohsay, pointing at the evening’s fare of homemade chicken soup, “because I can get whatever I want to eat.”

This despite the fact they don’t have a telephone or television. Lerdohsay said he’s working on getting a car, but he’s leery of driving in the snow. The three seldom go out. In the evenings, after dinner, they go to bed, the men said, mindful they need to work the next morning.

They would like more education, they say, Lerdohsay to study electronics, Myai pharmacy, and Hser, law. But all three say working and helping their families comes first.

The children in the Gahungu family may get assimilated to Rockford more quickly than their mom and dad. Besides the two working at Wal-Mart, four attend school, Guilford High, West Middle and St. Stanislaus Kostka Catholic. While they leave the home five days or more a week, their parents usually don’t, except to be driven to English classes or church on Sunday.